'Jamu' grocers avoid pre-Idul Fitri struggle for transport home
'Jamu' grocers avoid pre-Idul Fitri struggle for transport home
By Dwi Atmanta
JAKARTA (JP): The energy sapping battle against hunger and
thirst during the fasting month of Ramadhan shifts into high gear
for Moslems here when they search for buses and trains bound for
their hometowns prior to the Idul Fitri holidays.
However, such a routine, which has always been marked with
chaos at bus terminals and railway stations, no longer belongs to
traditional medicinal herbal tonic (jamu) grocers.
While almost three million holiday revelers slug it out for
seats throughout next week, the jamu sellers will be enjoying
their trip back home.
The Idul Fitri holidays fall on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto has predicted
that 25 million people will join the annual exodus. Traffic jams
look unavoidable, not to mention some areas along Java's northern
coast route which are prone to floods and landslides.
There will be 38,236 public buses and 986 train cars deployed
for the holiday season, but judging by those figures, it looks
like they will be incapable of accommodating an estimated 16.5
million people who will return home by road.
With the government recommending hikes in bus fares up to 25
percent a week before and after the holidays -- although in fact,
the increase is uncontrollable -- the jamu peddlers can enter the
buses free of charge.
"I'm lucky enough not to break a sweat or shed tears," said
Soleh, who sells jamu in Palmerah, Central Jakarta. The 25-year-
old native of Kuningan, West Java will join the trip organized by
PT Sidomuncul, one of the country's leading jamu factories.
"During the holiday season, the bus fare to my hometown can
reach Rp 12,000 (US$5.2), more than twice as high as the usual
fare," Soleh said.
The trip, which constitutes the company's seventh successive
charity program, which will take place Wednesday. It is expected
to involve 9,000 jamu sellers and their families who live in
Greater Jakarta. Soleh will be making his fourth journey with the
Sidoarjo, East Java-based firm.
Passengers will gather at the Senayan parking lot and be
divided into several groups according to their destinations. The
farthest destination is Wonogiri, Central Java, home to another
jamu giant, PT Air Mancur.
Other than the free bus trip, the traders will be vying for
the top prize of a motorcycle in a lucky draw organized by the
sponsoring company prior to their departure.
Sidomuncul's Jakarta branch office spokesperson, Maria,
claimed that the firm is the first to introduce the program,
which is aimed to maintain a good relationship with the sellers.
"Rival jamu companies just followed in our footsteps," she
said. However, she refused to comment about the impact of the
program on the company's selling rate.
A staff member of the Wonogiri-based PT Air Mancur, Bambang
Triono, said the company decided to start the charity program
three years ago for long-term purposes.
"We don't expect instant results from this program. We are
thinking about the future," Bambang said. "Weaving a mutual
cooperation with sellers is part of our promotion strategy," he
added.
Bambang declined to disclose the budget for the annual
program, but hinted that it would cost the company nearly Rp 29
million.
He said 25 buses have been provided to accommodate 1,250
people for this year's trip, which takes place Thursday. Each bus
will cost the company up to Rp 700,000.
Each jamu seller will receive a dinner worth Rp 1,500 plus a
T-shirt, which costs Rp 7,500.
Secured
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief has called on all companies
to provide vehicles for their employees who are returning home
for Idul Fitri.
Latief said transportation facilities would allow the
employees to feel secure prior to the Islamic holidays, which are
always marked by a massive exodus involving millions of people.
Most of the revelers head for towns in West Java, Central Java
and East Java.
"Transportation expenses have always cost the employees most
of their holiday allowances," the minister said.
For that reason, cosmetic producer PT Martina Berto has, since
1992, initiated a collective trip for its employees who will
celebrate the Moslem holidays in their hometowns, according to
the head of the company's trade union, Wasisto.
The firm, a supplier for national cosmetic giant PT Sari Ayu,
will send 200 employees back home for Idul Fitri on Friday
afternoon. Four buses will carry them, but not for free.
Wasisto said the company provides only Rp 15,000 in
transportation subsidies for each homeward bound employee,
meaning that the employee has to pay extra expenditures for his
or her family.
"It's hard for the management to cover them all, because this
is unfair. There are more employees who do not return home," said
Wasisto, who has been with the company for 12 years.
The company's management will give all employees the same
amount in holiday allowances plus an extra two days of leave next
Wednesday and Thursday, in observance of the holidays.
He said before 1992, the employees' productivity dropped
before the Idul Fitri holidays because their thoughts were on
their hometowns hundreds of miles away. "They were restless after
watching thousands of people fight tooth and nail for buses," he
said.
Wasisto said the annual exodus would not adversely affect the
production process of the company. "No problem. We have regularly
faced the same thing," he said.
Elsewhere in Serang, West Java, each company at the Cikande
and Cilegon industrial estates will provide buses for its
employees. This year's holidays will see 150,000 workers leave
for home.
But the lucky employees and jamu sellers forget that the
difficulties common to this holiday period will also occur on the
return trip, when the same amount of holiday revelers leave home
to return to their places of business.
"No problem. At least I can celebrate the holidays
peacefully," said Soleh, the jamu seller working in Palmerah.